We’re working on a case now that will make your hair stand on-end.
Our client, Naji Hamdan, a U.S. citizen, was detained and tortured this fall for three months by the United Arab Emirates with United States involvement. Naji is still in prison there, now under the custody of local officials who charged him with terrorism-related offenses based on coerced confessions.
We’ve been lobbying our members of Congress and contacting the State Department but time is short!! Help us pressure Secretary of State designee, Hillary Clinton to do something before she takes office. Naji’s story after the jump.
For over two decades, Naji and his family lived in Hawthorne, California, where he ran an auto-parts business and helped manage the Islamic Center of Hawthorne, a mosque and community center. He was also monitored by the FBI. The past two years were especially intense. Naji’s brother, Hossam, and others who know him from his activities at the Islamic Center have all said that he’s a peaceful family man who would never support violence.
In 2006, Naji decided to relocate to the United Arab Emirates for business and family reasons. This summer FBI agents traveled from Los Angeles to the U.A.E. to continue their questioning of Naji. Three weeks later he was taken into custody by agents of the U.A.E. state security forces and detained incommunicado for the next three months.
His brother and his wife, Mona, also a U.S. citizen, were frantic. They contacted the ACLU/SC for help. On November 26, 2008, one week after lawyers for the ACLU/SC filed a lawsuit alleging that the U.S. government was responsible for his detention, Naji was transferred from U.A.E. state security custody to the Al Wathba prison in Abu Dhabi where he remains to this day, charged with terrorism-related offenses.
Recently, Naji was able to finally contact his family and an American consular official and told them he was severely tortured during his detention in U.A.E. state security custody and forced to confess to crimes that he did not commit.
His torturers blindfolded Naji, so he couldn’t see them. They kicked and beat him to the point of Naji passing out. They strapped him into an electric chair, threatening its use. Naji heard some of the interrogators speak native English with an American accent. They asked him questions about topics only the U.S. federal agents would know.
From all angles, his imprisonment looks like it’s been done at the request of the U.S. government, and his interrogation, which included severe torture, was done with participation of U.S. federal officials. If the U.S. government requested or participated in his detention and torture in the U.A.E., the United States government has violated this U.S. citizen’s most fundamental rights.
Naji’s situation is now urgent. If his prosecution is allowed to proceed in the U.A.E. based on evidence obtained through torture, Naji will receive a deeply unfair trial and unjust sentence.
The policies of the current administration make appealing to Secretary Rice practically pointless. Please help us urge Senator Hillary Clinton, President Elect Obama’s choice for the next Secretary of State, for Naji’s release and return to the U.S., where his rights can be protected. If Naji has done something wrong, then the U.S. should charge him with a crime and prosecute him in the United States, where he can be assured his due process rights. In addition, the role played by the U.S. government in causing Naji’s detention and torture must be thoroughly investigated. Naji must be treated as all Americans deserve to be treated, with dignity and respect for their rights.
Thank you.